Germany’s rapeseed-oil exports up 19% in 2022-’23 over previous season

German shipments of rapeseed oil increased in the 2022-’23 crop year, following a significant decline a year earlier.

At nearly 1.3 million metric tons, Germany exported just over 19 percent more rapeseed oil in 2022-’23 than in the previous season.

Nevertheless, exports fell 6 percent short of the volume reached in the 2020-’21 marketing year.

The Netherlands remained the largest recipient country of German rapeseed oil in 2022-’23.

The country took just over 710,400 tons, which, however, were destined for onward export to destinations worldwide.

In the previous season, exports to the Netherlands were just about 19 percent lower.

Belgium ranked second, taking 110,800 tons.

The country received around 28 percent more than in 2021-’22.

It was followed by Denmark, France and Norway as major destinations.

France purchased around 58,400 tons, down 10 percent, remaining an important market.

Denmark received around 72,100 tons, up about 12 percent.

Shipments to Norway showed the biggest increase, nearly doubling over the previous year’s volume to 53,600 tons.

China, Sweden, the U.K., Finland and Brazil also received significantly more than in 2021-’22, whereas deliveries to Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland declined.

The development exports have taken underlines the importance Germany has for the supply of rapeseed oil and, at the same time, the high-protein animal feed rapeseed meal to the European Union.

The UFOP expects the importance of European-rapeseed production for climate-change mitigation—and consequently that of rapeseed oil as an indirect land-use change-free feedstock—to become more visible as the EU database will be introduced towards the end of the year, as announced by the EU Commission.

Similar to Nabisy, the database system of the German Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE), the EU database will record the sustainability certificates for volumes of biodiesel and hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), also referred to as renewable diesel, that can be counted toward quota obligations.